Roger Federer's epic Wimbledon men's singles victory attracted a peak audience of just over 11 million viewers to BBC1 at about 6.30pm yesterday, Sunday 5 July.

BBC1's live coverage of Federer's five-set win over Andy Roddick, stretching over almost four and a half hours, attracted an average of 7.5 million viewers and a 50% share between 2pm and 6.30pm.

Viewing peaked in the quarter-hour from 6.15pm as Federer finally sealed victory, with 11.1 million viewers watching then.

The BBC1 Wimbledon audience grew steadily throughout the afternoon, starting at 4.3 million viewers at 2pm and averaging 10.6 million in the hour from 5.45pm for the climax of the match and the presentations that followed on Centre Court.

Overall, the coverage averaged 7.1 million viewers and a 49% share between 1.30pm and 7pm. This was BBC1's best share for a Wimbledon men's singles final since 2001.

BBC1's Wimbledon coverage was due to finish at 5.40pm yesterday and the channel switched its early evening news and Antiques Roadshow to BBC2 to stay with the men's final, in which Federer won his sixth Wimbledon singles title.

Normal programming resumed at 7pm, with Countryfile attracting 5.1 million viewers and a 26% share against ITV1's The Royal, which had 4.3 million and 22%.

BBC2's Top Gear again won the 8pm hour with 5.7 million viewers and a 25% share.

On BBC1, Alex Kingston drama Hope Springs was beaten into third place by ITV1's The Secret Caribbean with Trevor McDonald, which attracted 3.8 million viewers and a 17% share. Hope Springs was left trailing with 3.4 million viewers and a 15% share.

ITV1 also prevailed in the 9pm hour, with Stephen Fry drama Kingdom picking up 4.6 million viewers and a 20% share.

Casualty 1909 on BBC1 had 3.3 million viewers, a 14% share; while the second episode of BBC2's Ben Fogle South Pole expedition series On Thin Ice drew 2.8 million and 12%.

Channel 4's Big Brother was watched by 1.9 million viewers and attracted an 8% share. A further 200,000 watched an hour later on Channel 4 +1.